In this screenshot from a video released by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, deputies take a suspect into custody as part of Operation Renewed Hope, a three-month effort that targeted suspects soliciting sex with minors, among other crimes.
The operation netted more than 120 arrests, Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a news conference on Thursday. [ Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office ]
Villacorteza, 28, was actually chatting with a Hillsborough deputy posing as a teen boy on Growlr, a dating app. Deputies arrested Villacorteza at James Elementary the next day.
Villacorteza’s arrest was part of a larger undercover operation by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office that netted more than 120 arrests, Sheriff Chad Chronister said Thursday during a news conference at the office’s Ybor City headquarters.
As one part of the three-month operation called Renewed Hope, undercover deputies posed as underage girls and boys online and arranged to meet with suspects.
“These criminals knowingly sought to engage in sexual acts with each of them,” Chronister said.
A number of the suspects, including Villacorteza, face charges such as using a computer to travel to meet a minor after using a computer to solicit illegal acts, a second-degree felony that can bring 15 years in prison.
Other suspects were arrested on charges such as soliciting another to commit prostitution.
The broader goal of the operation was to fight human trafficking, Chronister said, noting that Thursday was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
Out of a total of 123 arrests, six people were charged with human trafficking, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office identified them as: Christopher Barba, 24; Anthony Kyle, 27; Vinay Linginedi, 29; Yariez Lopez Padilla, 37; Edwin Preciado, 34; and Gumecindo Zuniga Sanchez, 38.
According to the sheriff’s office, Barba was at the time of his arrest on Dec. 14 a basketball coach for the District Elite AAU league in Wesley Chapel for boys in fifth to 12th grade.
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